Oh jeez. This is going to be a hell of a post, isn't it? I will do my very best to keep it brief-ish, but it could balloon out into a hot technical mess. Still, as this is less a review and more just a waffling journal of errant thoughts and half-formed dreams based on playing old portable card games, we can afford a bit of vagueness. So. Here is a post about me, and my over 15 year-old obsession and occasional resurgence in the card game world of Yu-Gi-Oh (hereafter referred to as Yugioh for sheer convenience in typing). I, the intrepid Japanese animation explorer I was in my teens, happened to get into this card game anime for kids as it aired on TV back then. It didn't make any goddamned sense but my god was it wild. It somehow felt like a step above the other anime fare I'd been consuming, like Pokemon or Sailor Moon (about which a great deal someday, I promise you)... but that could be just nostalgia talking. Then I found out that they had a real card game based on this shit, and you could buy it... and well, I was hooked. I had my bunch of pals and we all played it together for the next six years until we all moved away to go on with adult life, but we still saw each other and played it online. There are shenanigans and stories that could be told. Legends that remain hidden in my head. The Labyrinth Saga, or the Butterfly Dagger Gambit, or the Meteor Crush Trick. Odd little stories that just make me smile today. For now, we won't talk about those. We have to talk about a Yugioh game I played this week... but to do that, we had to come back here, to 2002. Relative newcomer to the card game that I was, I discovered a little something on one of my shopping trips. A Yugioh game! For the Game Boy Color! Wow, holy shit! I can play the card game on the go, AND the thing even comes with three free cards! Relatively decent ones for the time as well! This, then, is part of our preamble. Come with me for but a moment, to witness Yugioh Dark Duel Stories.
